Fall Fungal Foray, etc.

 Late summer through early autumn is a great time of year to be searching for mushrooms, a.k.a. fungi. Being the 'fun guy' that I am (joke :-), I spend a fair bit of time looking for ones to photograph. Recent moisture can have a big effect on fungi. What one sees attached to a log or growing out of the ground, is really just the fruiting body of the fungus, where spores are released and carried by slight breezes to another spot at which it can grow. Important as these above ground features are, they are only a very small part of this plant. The immense part of it is underground, in the form of tiny but very extensive threads of mycelia that collectively are absolutely enormous! A rich forest ground cover is jam-packed full of mycelia, which connect many other plants, including trees root systems, and are one of the main forms of energy that allows the richness of the forest to flourish. And they just keep expanding every year!

By comparison, a corn or soybean field growing next to a woodland is so depauperate.  The destruction of the forest which once was there, as well as the annual plowing/cultivation, has destroyed the beneficial mycelia, and the only way those crops can produce is if the farmer pours on extensive amounts of man-made fertilizers, a lot of which will end up in the local creek systems, eventually ending up in the local rivers/lakes, and be the main source of our drinking water. Yuk! And that is an important, but unfortunate topic for another blog post.

In the meantime, I want to focus on some of the fungi I have recently noted and photographed. Here are a few, all of which have been found locally, mostly at Rondeau.

One of the most impressive ones I have found quite recently is one called Chicken-of-the-woods. I have seen this species annually, and it is always worthy of note, but on this occasion about a month ago, I came across by far the most impressive example of it. I took this photo with my phone as it was raining, and did not enhance this image a bit, other than to slightly crop it. 

Some others, in no particular order are:

Conifer Mazegill

Next is one somewhat similar to the first one, and it is called Conifer Chicken-of-the-woods. It is not common in this area, but can be found on a decomposing conifer log. This one was on a rotting log of White Pine.

Clustered Bonnet

One thing that is helpful in determining what species a fungus is, is to examine the underside. Some fungi have small holes, such as this next one....

Chicken Fat Mushroom

....while others have gills. Since it is just the fruiting part of the fungus, breaking a piece off and examining the underside will have very minimal effect on the fungus.

Burnt Sugar Milky

Crown-tipped Coral Fungus

Next is one that is seldom seen, and that is just as well. It is called Golden Oyster Mushroom, native to Europe and Asia. However it has been cultivated in North America due to its apparent edibility, and no doubt spores of it have been distributed throughout much of at least eastern North America. It decomposes the wood of many native tree species, and apparently has displaced some of the naturally occurring fungal species. I have only seen it on one occasions, about a year ago.

Northern Honey Fungus

Orange Earthtongue

One of the very first species of mushroom I photographed decades ago is this next one: Orange Mycena. I see it annually now, and this was photographed in September.

Next is a type of bracket fungus, called Orange Polypore

Oyster Mushroom

Again, looking at the underside to determine whether there are gills or holes is beneficial.

Next are a couple of examples of a Pear-shaped Puffball, some of which are opening up to allow the spored to disperse.

Earthball

Next is a type of the Amanita family, a family known for its harmful, even deadly, qualities. I should add that as interested in mushrooms as I am, there are only a couple of types that I have ever eaten from the wild: Giant Puffball and one of the Morels. Even though I took a course on Mycology at University and have a couple of excellent books to help identify them, there are too many things to consider before even thinking of eating them.

Small Funnel-veil Amanita

Trooping Crumble Cap

Next is a type of slime mould known as Tubifera magna

Vermilion Cap

The next two show a variation in the one called White Jelly Fungus

And lastly, one called Witch's Cap. Not sure who comes up with the names......

In other news, just because it is of interest to many birder readers, I managed to catch up with a Red-necked Phalarope at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons...

 ...and just a day or two ago, that of a young Purple Gallinule which had been found at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands just outside of Rondeau. At times it was out in the open and relatively close at hand.

However when I first saw it, it was tucked back behind some vegetation, still identifiable, but not what I had hoped to work with. Fortunately for me, and many others who were out looking for it, it did eventually come out in the open and was busily nipping of bits of something on the underside of the lotus leaves!

 On another note, some of the long-time readers of Nature Nuggets will have realized that I don't produce as many as I used to. Of course when my dear wife Marie passed away, that was a significant adjustment and I cut back on blog posts as well as other things. However in early June of 2025, some friends suggested I start an additional blog, sharing some of the life-changing things I had experienced and learned from, especially in the previous few years. And so my new blog, entitled Life Is A Journey, began. I now have 47 posts on that blog sharing the many ups and downs of life, some of which were devastating, and others resulting in some significant blessings. Nature continues to be part of the story in some of them. If you are interested in some of my background that makes me who I am, check it out if you like. The first post can be found at this link: and progresses in bits and pieces through the decades of my (and Marie's) lives. It is also mentioned on the lower right-hand-side of this blog, in the category of Blogs I Follow. As I continue through some of the ups and downs of life, nature will likely be still an important part of it, and one I have in mind for a post in the near future is about spiders!

 

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Nature Nuggets continues, sort of...

 Readers of my most recent blog will understand why I have not been posting anything lately. I decided to have the month of June devoted to that single post, featuring the passing of my dear wife, Marie. It has been a difficult time, certainly like nothing else I have experienced, which isn't surprising given that we had spent nearly 48 years together.

In spite of this, I did manage to get out for short periods since she passed away, partly to re-live memories, and partly to enjoy the ambiance of nature which was so important to both of us. Also to take a break from the never-ending details that come after the death of a loved one! I purposely chose times and places where I was most apt to be by myself rather than get caught up with many other hikers who were out for very different reasons. But get out I did, and had my camera with me of course. I managed to find a few things to capture on digital film, and some of those highlights will be in this blog. Lots of common things, but worthy in their own right. Since one cannot travel through the natural areas of southwestern Ontario without coming across some less common things, I will include some of them as well.

Certainly one of the highlights, from a bird perspective, was to come across a few Dickcissels. It used to be an extremely rare species in Ontario, but in the last few years has been more or less regular.

They often sit out in the open, near a large grassy field, and sing throughout the day.

Quiet trails worked out nicely for my various outings.

...with the occasional bird song punctuating the woodland atmosphere, such as this Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Wild Turkeys are not often seen, but with a few families of young birds to add to the overall population, there are a few more to be found.

Wood Lilies often catch my eye as they almost glow in the normally dark forest setting.....

..but should not to be confused with the very abundant Day Lily, next, a non-native species that is most likely to be found along Lakeshore Road, as they have escaped from cottage lots.

Purple Flowering Raspberry is scattered along woodland trails. Even though it is a raspberry, it does not produce fruits that we find edible.

There is lots of Mayapple scattered throughout the main forested areas. As the season progresses, they may be heavily spotted with Mayapple Rust.

In the grassy areas, especially those areas which were burned this spring, Butterfly Milkweed is widely found.

There is no question that it is attractive!

A very rare species, the location of which I will not divulge, is American Ginseng. I have been watching this population for many years. This first photo shows what it looks like at about the very end of May. You can see some very small flower buds developing at the central stem.

This next photo shows what it will look like in mid to late June, on the verge of flowering.

I did not get to it this year to see it in flower. By the time I did get to it, flowering was past and fruit pods were developing. They will turn red when ripe.

Canada Anemone has been widespread, although it is mostly past flowering by now.

A non-native orchid can be found scattered in various places. It is Helleborine, a European species.

Fungi are here and there, but will be more noticeable later in the summer and early fall. This one is a White Jelly Fungus.

On one of my forays, I was walking along the road and this young cottontail was nibbling away at some greenery. It did not mind me approaching at all, as I took this photo with my 100 mm macro lens. I am not sure whether it was able to survive for long or not. Just a few minutes earlier, and only a short distance away, I had a Long-tailed Weasel scamper out onto the road. It was only there for a couple of seconds so I was unable to get a photo. But if it scented this little bunny, I am sure it would be after it in a flash, as it would be a perfect meal for this weasel.

Also in the greater Rondeau area, I spent a bit of time along the Erieau Rail Trail. There is always something to see, including Great Blue Herons...

...the inevitable Mute Swans...

..and a few Eastern Kingbirds.

Turtles abound still, although not as much as in late April and early May. Northern Map Turtles, a Species at Risk, are found regularly.

That's all for now. I have been other places, such as Clear Creek Forest Provincial Park and St. Clair NWA, but those outings will have to wait to be featured on a future post.

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